Rabbi Dov and Shevy Oliver, winners of the Rockland Jewish Community Hero project

After three intensive months of email campaigning, social media marketing and electronic voting, the Jewish community of Rockland County elected Rabbi Dov and Shevy Oliver as its Rockland Jewish Community Hero.

The final results of the competition, which was run by the Jewish Federation of Rockland County this spring, were announced at the organization's annual meeting in early June, which was chaired by Federation past President Roberta Aasronson. The Federation Along with the winner of the hero contest, the Federation graduated its first Leadership Development Institute class of 19 and announced the winners of The Rockland Jewish Reporter's first annual essay contest and members of the Federation's board of directors --including that Federation President Carol Blau would continue in that role with Beth Dubas serving as co-president - for the upcoming campaign year.

Oliver said that some of the people he and his wife, who serve as directors of the Hillel at SUNY Rockland, competed against, were real heroes, such as Alan Moskin, who served in World War II and was among the allied liberators of the Gunskirchen Concentration Camp.

"I feel humbled we were chosen," said Oliver. "But we will put the money to good use."
The Hillel, which is a beneficiary agency of the Federation, received a check for $1,000 and the couple have chosen to launch the Rockland Hillel Scholars Fund, which will assist college-aged students who wish to pursuer Jewish studies in recognized programs and institutions in Israel.

The Olivers have headed the Hillel for the past three years, offering a variety of activities from a kayaking kickoff to a historical fashion show celebrating Jewish history, to students attending the two-year commuter college.

"The hope is that members of the community will further contribute to this fund contribute with the money being used to defray the costs of airfare, living expenses and tuition for long or short term stints in Israel helping those selected to grow in their Jewish knowledge and identity," Oliver wrote in an email announcing its establishment following the meeting.
Voting for the heroes project was community-wide and promoted through articles in the Reporter, which the Federation publishes, and through email and Facebook campaigning. The first round of voting yielded five finalists: Brenda Lender, a community volunteer and past president of both Reuben Gittelman Hebrew Day School and JCC Rockland; Sara Fuerst, who started koshertroops.com, a grass-roots organization that packs and sends kosher care packages to Jewish military personnel; Rabbi Chaim and Chaya Ehrenreich, of the Chabad Jewish Education Center in Chestnut Ridge; and Rabbi Shmuel and Devorah Gancz, of the Chabad of Suffern.

Teri McGuire, a junior at Clarkstown High School South, and Allen Lipson, also a junior at South, won first and second places respectively in the newspaper's essay contest. The theme for the contest was "Local Hero: Who in your Jewish community has inspired you and why." McGuire, who won $300, wrote about Bruce Varon, the Koach divisional director for United Synagogue Youth of Metropolitan New York. Lipson, whose prize was $150, wrote about a yoga instructor at overnight camp who he never named in his essay.

Susan Jackson illuminates and entertains

Approximately 70 people turned up for the annual meeting, which included a rollicking, joke-laden keynote speech by Susan Jackson, the executive philanthropic officer at UJA Federation in Toronto, that bordered on a comic meditation on Jewish continuity and Federation work. Federation Carol Blau delivered a "State of the Federation" address.
 Thanking the staff, in particular Executive Director Diane Sloyer, Blau enumerated the accomplishments of the Federation, which had come through a tough two years, some of which was without a director and in a very tough economy.

 "I'm proud of the work we've done this year," said Blau after the meeting. "We've come a long way with support from the community, our board and donors and the staff. Our Federation is strong and revitalized and we can do some incredible work for the Jewish community as we move forward."

Jackson, the keynote speaker, had the audience playing off her lively delivery on an old subject, of why they do the Jewish philanthropic work that they do. Using humor and pathos, she told story after story, some old Jewish jokes, others her own anecdotes from years of Jewish communal work.

As she neared the end of her talk, she told of taking a group of teens to Israel in the 80s. She noted there was one boy who didn't react through most of the trip to anything. Two days before leaving, they visited the Zionist Center after viewing the cemetery at Har Herzl, where Theodore Herzl, the founder of Zionism was buried.

The instructor there asked the students for their reaction to the trip. "What would you say to Israelis," Jackson related.

The "galumph" who hadn't reacted through the trip raised his hand. "I'd say, "Thank you. Thank you for protecting what's ours.'" He told of looking at the graves in the cemetery where soldiers were buried. "I didn't look at the important people," Jackson said. "I looked at the soldiers. Some of those boys who died were younger than I am and they died so I could be here in this room, telling you this today.

"We have an impact," Jackson said. "The things we say, the things we do, the things we role model. We have an impact."